Let us set the scene: it’s the festive month of December, wrapped in winter chill, yet glowing with the warmth of Christmas and the sweet anticipation of a new year. It’s Saturday, 5 p.m. The lights go on, the murmur in the audience fades, and silence fills the indoor riding hall of the Đakovo State Stud Farm…

The Christmas Ball of the Lipizzaner begins – a musical and theatrical spectacle starring none other than these maned nobles. Their manes are neatly brushed, their bodies strong and sculpted, their movements perfectly trained in dressage under the saddle or in the graceful rhythm of a carriage ride. Like well-rehearsed dancers, they earn admiration and applause with every performance. Their movements are aristocratic, graceful, and pure.

Riders, carriage drivers, and dancers in crinolines, tailcoats, and elegant hats revive the spirit of courtly balls and dances, magical carriage rides whose wheels carve lines into untouched snow, and the chivalrous charm of gentlemen courting ladies with dance cards. They bring back the times of enchanted forests, fairies, and mysterious tales.

Organised by the Đakovo State Stud Farm, in partnership with Nobiles de Croatia Association and with guests from Kobilarna Lipica, this unique equestrian musical performance is the most spectacular of the stud farm’s four annual events and one of the region’s most popular tourist attractions.

For more than ten years now, the Christmas Ball has been in high demand, and its loyal audience eagerly awaits each new edition. The 2025 - 12th edition - will once again feature two performances, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., attended by around 1,200 visitors from all over Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vojvodina…

Each year’s story is fairy-tale-like and unique, sprinkled with magic, where good always triumphs over evil. The performance brings together 50 horses and 150 dancers, riders, drivers, and performers, while the interplay of light and music heightens the drama and beauty of the spectacle.

Tickets are available from October 1^st.

Information: www.ergela-djakovo.hr

Written by: Suzana Župan